Not So Different [Day 10, ME, Grey Carp]

[Kuni Koyuki]

Koyuki had come here once before alongside Hotaru Tsuyo, so it was a sort of amusing mental note that another minor-clanner was one whom she brought here today. Familiar as a face to some of the kids it wasn't a cheery reception but a welcome one. When a new Crab came to town you tended to try and remember your Family a little more than the rest after all. At least Crab knew to note the specificities of the face-paint more than any other might, given that connection.

However, tonight was a night for two weary souls to find themselves a couple glasses and finally just talk. Rocky was the best designator for their relationship and it was also the way she ordered her Kuni-made shochu once they'd settled into one of the booths near the back.

[Usagi Rei]

Rei ordered the same, and before long, the two of them were sitting in the back booth, drinks in hand. Rei also took a shochu, but a Scorpion one, not a Kuni.

"I can't believe he figured out that door lock." Rei said, rubbing a hand over his face.

[Kuni Koyuki]

When Rei orders a Scorpion made shochu he gets a disastisfied glare from Koyuki, but nothing more than that. Sitting with the glass before her, the icey chill of its presence against her fingers. Taking in all those little details, like how the seat felt against her back and the way the lighting changed the mood.

"I can't believe we were practically useless in there," she adds, and takes a healthy drink from her glass.

[Usagi Rei]

Rei chuckled at that. "It's not what I expected. Like, I figured solving puzzles, that's work for a couple of trained investigators, unless there's a singing and dancing puzzle.

He rattled the ice in his glass, not drinking yet. "But they stepped up. There's no denying. Really, I shouldn't be surprised. They both have a lot of spirit, in their own ways."

[Kuni Koyuki]

"I didn't doubt either of them, not really. Asahina Hinata has spirit to match whatever other deficiencies others might think he has and Yakumo," her voice fades on that thought. All the thousands of things she could say about Yakumo. Ditzy bimbo she may be sometimes, vain, egotistical, and just a little too obsessed with how amazing she really was.

"Yakumo," she repeats her name, and drinks again. "I love her, and I don't know if she knows what that means to me."

Silence.

[Usagi Rei]

Rei glanced at Koyuki. Then he sighed, taking a long drink from his own glass. Then he looked back to Koyuki again.

"What does that mean to you?" He asked.

[Kuni Koyuki]

"Everything."

It was a simple enough answer, and yet to elaborate felt so difficult. How could she condense the particulars of what it meant to her merely into words? Love wasn't something that Koyuki let in as easy, and that was true long before she'd been broken by the woman she truly did once let in before. Now she had Yakumo and she was afraid, afraid she wasn't as understood as she needed to be.

"When I choose someone, I am theirs," she finally settles in. "I need that too."

[Usagi Rei]

"Huh." Rei grunted. He closed his eyes, his expression dark. Slowly, he raised his glass to his lips, drinking slowly, seemingly less out of a desire to do so than to simply be doing something.

Finally, he set it down on the counter, his eyes opening. "It means lots of different things to different people." Rei said, his voice heavy. He shook his head. "I don't know exactly what it means to her. But something different, I'm pretty sure. You talk to her about it?"

[Kuni Koyuki]

"I will," she says, and with a sense of a heavy stone being dropped into a well she takes a drink from her glass and seems done with that. Breathing in deep she lets it out slow. Glancing around the room, giving the space to the conversation that truly creates a bit more distance as time ticks on.

Soon, "Doesn't matter. Moriko, I saw her wife the other day. I plan to do what I can to put an end to this whole sorry affair once and for all," she says, and looks down at her glass. Swirling it around in her hand, "I may need your help with it, as I suspect she will try to kill me."

[Usagi Rei]

Rei nodded. "Okay. What's your plan?" His tone was very matter of fact as he lounged in his seat.

[Kuni Koyuki]

"Prepare. Call her, and tell her where I am," she says, matter of factly. Wasn't a very complex plan but that just meant it was harder to mess up.

[Usagi Rei]

Rei frowned into his glass, but then he looked over at her. "Do you plan on killing her?" His frown deepened. "Why do the two of you want to kill each other, anyway?"

He swirled the ice around in his glass; he didn't seem to be drinking that much, actually.

[Kuni Koyuki]

"Not anymore."

"I did, before. Two ghosts who made it away from their squad who died on some distant planet. One who abandoned the others, and the one who was abandoned with them. I wanted to finish what was started that day. Now.. now I see she's just as broken as I was, and I can't bring myself to kill her. She'll try, still."

Koyuki just sort of stares off to the opposite wall like she wasn't really there, in this bar with Rei. Hand on her glass feeling the little chill slowly getting warmer while her hand stayed colder.

[Usagi Rei]

Rei's frown deepened as he leaned against the surface of the table. He tilted his head, looking at Koyuki.

"So... what's the plan? She's gonna try to kill you. Do you think you can talk her out of it?" Rei's tone was skeptical. Then his brows drew down. "Or are you planning to let her?"

[Kuni Koyuki]

"Wasn't asking for your help so you could have front row seats," she chides, but grimaces and grits her teeth. Shaking her head with a bit of tension and frustration, unflexing her free hand.

"What I meant," she emphasizes, and holds. "No. I intend to let her try, and stop her with force if I have to while I try and get a chance to talk to her."

[Usagi Rei]

Rei sighed. "Alright. Well, I guess I owe you one. If you need me, I'll be there." Shrugging, he finally took a sip of his shochu.

Chewing his lip, he looked back at Koyuki. "So why'd she do it?" Rei asked.

[Kuni Koyuki]

"Scared," she says, something of a distance there. Shrugging she taps the edge of her glass with an extended index off of it. Thinking at the troubles of all this complication of this fucked up world.

"Thought we were dead anyway, and wanted to live. Just.. didn't have it in her to risk herself, I guess. Couldn't bring herself to look death in the face even if it meant leaving behind the family we'd been together to that fate alone. I'm sure someone out there wouldn't blame her but," she raises the glass, drinking from it.

"I wouldn't have hesitated for a second."

[Usagi Rei]

"Somewhere." Rei said with a shrug. "But samurai shouldn't run from a fight. Especially not when people are depending on them." Rei frowned as he looked into his glass.

He shook his head. "Obviously you wouldn't." Rei chuckled softly. "It's good to know for sure, though. Like they used to do with swords, honor should be tested from time to time to make sure that it doesn't break when you really need it." Rei shrugged. "Or, I think so anyway. Maybe for some, it's strong enough that it doesn't need testing."

[Kuni Koyuki]

"You sound like you're reading out of a book, Usagi-sama," she says, and she doesn't chuckle but she seems amused. Even if there's a bit of darkness in those eyes as she focuses in on her drink. "But no, I disagree," she says, and takes a drink.

"Honor shouldn't be tested from time to time. Honor should never have to be tested, for what it is it should just be," she shakes her head at the thought. "You know-" A tangent, a tangent, Koyuki's going on a tangent. "- Bayushi Mineichi and I sparred not too long before all this started. Met one another, blade to blade," she says with a slight curl of her lip, a touch of danger. "Even if they were wooden. I could have had him back then but didn't take the win. I made a mistake but, now I wonder if I knew I shouldn't have been able to beat him. He wields a sword well. Seems.. rare, today," she seems to find her point, shrugs, and finishes.

[Usagi Rei]

"Yeah, I know." Rei said with a sigh. "But I've been living here for three years now." He wasn't sure honor meant the same thing as it used to. What did honor mean when there was no right decision?

He looked at her as she spoke, eyes narrowed. "I'll admit, I spend more time in the range than in the dojo." He said, frowning thoughtfully. "The Empire's changed a lot since it was just one planet. A planet I've never even seen." He looked at her again. "Do you think this tells us something about him?"